Craftmanship and luxury – that’s probably the two words that best sum up Bentley. And you certainly wouldn’t have the second without the first.

They’re a highly skilled team at the Crewe factory and they’re proud of what they do.

And while the Bentley engineering bosses were ‘talking the torque’ and suchlike with the motoring journalists, it was the people on the factory floor and the craftsmanship and skill they displayed that grabbed my attention.

Noel Thompson makes steering wheels at the luxury car manufacturing plant – and he’s been employed there for nearly 45 years.

“It takes three and a half to four hours to make a steering wheel,” he said, as he showed us how the leather was fitted over the wheel and the elaborate hand-stitched detail which goes into every single Bentley.

“It takes about 15 minutes to hand sew it all the way round.”

He then showed us one of the tricks of the trade – how they space the stitches, he’d made the royal visitors smile with this one.

“We tried other methods but we’ve gone back to the old way of doing it and we use a fork,” he said, producing your everyday piece of household cutlery.

To Bentley customers the interior of the car is easily as important as what is underneath the bonnet. For this reason, the attention to detail is incredible.

One worker was hand-sewing the leather car seats.

“It takes 37 and a half hours to sew a set for a car,” he explained.

What he forgot to say was that was after years of training and practice to reach that speed.

A quick trip to the wood shop was next and it soon became apparent that Bentley pays as much detail to the quality of the veneer as it does to every other aspect of the car.

“We’re looking for the veneer with the most interesting and decorative features,” said wood shop technical manager Phil Gent.

“We match all our veneer throughout the entire car so the right hand side matches the left hand exactly.”

As we walked through the factory, it was a bit surprising to see a proper wood shop inside, packed with timber, planes, saws etc.

“Not really the sort of thing you expect to see at a motoring company, more in a wood shop,” said Phil.

During the tour around the Pyms Lane site which employs about 3,700 people, it quickly became apparent we were not viewing a factory production line.

“We produce our cars individually and not by components,” said Phil.

Such is the attention to detail that the Bentley emblem, which is often sewn on to the headrest of the cars, contains about 5,000 stitches.

Of course, customers don’t have to have the Bentley emblem, they can request anything. I have to admit, that’s when I found myself thinking, why – when you’ve got a Bentley – would you want anything in the interior other than Bentley emblem? I didn’t ponder it too long though – it’s not going to be a problem I’ll ever have!

As for the W12 engine, like everything else at Bentley this too is work of art.

Altogether 2,600 components go into every W12 and it takes 30 people 12 and a half hours to build one W12.

As you would expect, Bentley uses some of the most rigorous engine testing regimes in the world.

Paul Willetts, who is in charge of quality control and testing the engine to its extremes, jokingly referred to himself as the most unpopular person at Bentley.

He waits until all the manpower has gone into building one of these fantastic engines and then, once a week, takes one, puts it through rigorous tests and strips it down and, with his team, inspects every single component.

“It’s a skilled job and they (the team) are checking every minute detail,” said Paul. “It’s a preventative measure. Because we do one audit like this a week, if we do find a problem, however small, we resolve it.”

I was wondering what they do with the stripped-down engine. It cost a small fortune.

“Oh we get rid of it. It’s not re-used, after all our customers want a brand new engine,” said Paul. The answer didn’t surprise me – this is Bentley, the home of luxury.

Test Drive

Being handed the keys to the fastest car ever built by Bentley and being told, ‘Right then, see you in Scotland’, is the stuff dreams are made of.

But that’s exactly what happened when I got to road-test the Continental GT Speed.

This superb car combines power and style and is effortless to drive.

It’s also a head-turner and you get a completely different reaction from people when you’re driving a Bentley, as I discovered when an ambulance driver thanked us for pulling over as he flew towards us with lights and siren blaring. That’s never happened to me in my Corsa!!

With its six-litre twin turbo-charged W12 engine, Bentley’s latest offering really is built for speed.

It goes from 0-60mph in just four seconds and is the smoothest drive you’ll ever come across.

When you’re first handed the keys to such a powerful – and let’s not forget expensive – car, the nerves kick in a bit.

But the Continental GT Speed is so easy to drive, within a few miles I was able to sit back and enjoy the journey.

At lower speeds the car seems to almost glide along and it’s surprisingly easy to ‘nip in and out’ of traffic – for some reason I didn’t expect to be able to do that.

But it’s at speed that the car really does come into its own.

The acceleration is remarkably quick and, when you overtake you know you’ve got the power to do it easily. I certainly didn’t feel the need to lean forward in this car in the hope of somehow going a bit faster, as I do in my Corsa!!

But the real speed test came at the airfield and it was exhilarating, amazing, exciting...

I’m afraid to say I bottled it when I realised I was driving at 132mph.

As the straw bales at the end of the runway appeared to be coming towards me at an alarmingly fast rate, the urge to brake was just too great to resist. Having said that, I felt completely in control and the ride at that speed was totally smooth. You’ll never hear a rattle or get a steering wheel vibration from a Bentley, no matter what the speed.

I can also vouch for the performance and the quality of the ride at 180mph – although I was a passenger at that speed, the Bentley engineer was in the driving seat for that little workout.

The Continental GT Speed has a top speed of 206mph and price tag of £156,700.

The Convertible does 203mph and sells for £172,400.

This really is a supercar – and, being a Bentley, the luxury and comfort definitely equals the performance.